Major Additions - Links and Downloads Manager

Version 2.3.0 of LDM is now the official release. This works with both VB3.7 and VB3.8. You can obtain it here

Version 2.2.8 remains available here, with limited support.

04.02.08: patch-cat.xml 'extra' uploaded - see first post for information

27.10.07: Version 2.2.8-post1 uploaded
French translation of product installer uploaded (other language translations are in the main release zip)

Remember to back up your current database tables before upgrading.

What this is and does

LDM is a general-purpose link and file manager, which handles user uploads and downloads in a flexible way. A range of media players is integrated into LDM and others are included as plugin extras. LDM is described below in the first post of this thread, which also contains a brief list of the currently-known bugs.

This release of LDM works correctly with all VB versions 3.6.x and recent versions of vbadvanced.

Documentation, screen shots, etc, are provided as a Wiki at http://www.eirma.org/wikis/index.php...nloads_Manager

Thank you to everyone who has tested, given suggestions, helped with the translations, etc.

[Ipuck]

Originally Posted by AndrewD

If you want to test LDM 2.2.8 with vb3.7, you will need the attached includes/local_links_init.php

Grateful for reports - first impression is that it still works.

I was about to post the problem here.

Thank you AndrewD you are the best!!!

[Ron1213]

First of all, great hack.

I have problem adding some news in the main LDM page, which template should make a change to add some news about files (above categories, under LDM title). I saw link_main and I wasn't sure if it's a right one.

[tekguru]

Cheers I was looking for a solution to this too!

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by Ron1213

First of all, great hack.

I have problem adding some news in the main LDM page, which template should make a change to add some news about files (above categories, under LDM title). I saw link_main and I wasn't sure if it's a right one.

links_main is the right template.

You can either make the change in the template itself, or you can do it using a plugin which assigns the extra material to an entry in the '$includeinmain' array.

The template includes several 'placeholders', each of these refers to a specific entry in this array. You will find patterns like the following in the template:

<if condition="$includeinmain[precat]">
$includeinmain[precat]
</if>

The other entries in the array are called postcat, prefeat, postfeat, prelink, postlink, prestats and poststats

They appear in the logical order through the template.

[derfelix]

First.. it works great.. with 3.7 beta..

Second, i searched for multilanguage support.. for titles and descriptions.. and found somewhere in FAQ that it is not going to be supported..

So I came up with a very personal solution.. inspired by a very old hack by Joerg Z from the times where vbulletin 3.5 did not have the user profile fields phrased.. https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=98904

So i did some testing.. and it seems to work fine... but:

I only use l&d manager as a links database.. AND will never have more than 100 categories.. so i dont know what happens if it is used differently

What i'd be interested in.. is if someone knows if there is a drawback..

The principle:
When you create a cat, you enter a dummy name.. a placeholder with a dollar sign in front..
example for the category "Vbullentin Sites" you enter the name $vbull_sites_ll_name
- you do the same with description, and long description, paying attention that you have descriptive names.. example in our case: $vbull_sites_ll_desc and $vbull_sites_ll_long_desc

No special characters and no spaces in those names.. and a $ (dollar sign in front)

Now you create phrases for each entry name, description and long description..
They have to have the same varname as you entered for your category BUT without the $ dollar sign!!! .. .. in those phrases you enter the real text you want to have.. (you add those phrases in phrasemanager to group: local_links...

For this to work you need 2 file modifications..
1st..
open: local_links_include.php
and find:

PHP Code:

foreach ($linkscat as $catid => $thiscat) { 


below add:

PHP Code:

// language cats hack -------- start
    $catname_multi = trim($linkscat[$catid]['catname']);
    $catdesc_multi = trim($linkscat[$catid]['catdesc']);
    $cattext_multi = trim($linkscat[$catid]['cattext']);

    if(substr($catname_multi,0,1) == '$' AND ($this_action != "addcat" OR $this_action != "editcat"))
    {
        // we remove the '$'
        $catname_multi = substr($catname_multi,1);
        // we get the phrase
        $linkscat[$catid]['catname'] = (!empty($vbphrase[$catname_multi])) ? $vbphrase[$catname_multi] : $catname_multi;
    }
    if(substr($catdesc_multi,0,1) == '$' AND ($this_action != "addcat" OR $this_action != "editcat"))
    {
        // we remove the '$'
        $catdesc_multi = substr($catdesc_multi,1);
        // we get the phrase
        $linkscat[$catid]['catdesc'] = (!empty($vbphrase[$catdesc_multi])) ? $vbphrase[$catdesc_multi] : $catdesc_multi;
    }
    if(substr($cattext_multi,0,1) == '$' AND ($this_action != "addcat" OR $this_action != "editcat"))
    {
        // we remove the '$'
        $cattext_multi = substr($cattext_multi,1);
        // we get the phrase
        $linkscat[$catid]['cattext'] = (!empty($vbphrase[$cattext_multi])) ? $vbphrase[$cattext_multi] : $cattext_multi;
    }

// language cats hack -------- end 


then in the file local_links.php find:

PHP Code:

    $catname    = htmlspecialchars_uni($linkscat[$viewcatid]["catname"]);
    $catdesc    = htmlspecialchars_uni($linkscat[$viewcatid]["catdesc"]);
    $cattext    = htmlspecialchars_uni($linkscat[$viewcatid]["cattext"]); 


and replace these 3 lines with:

PHP Code:

    // start multilang hack
    $multilangcat = $vbulletin->db->query_first("
        SELECT catname, catdesc, cattext
        FROM ".THIS_TABLE."linkscat
        WHERE catid = '".$vbulletin->GPC['catid']."'
        ");
    //$catname    = htmlspecialchars_uni($linkscat[$viewcatid]["catname"]);
    $catname = $multilangcat['catname'];

    //$catdesc    = htmlspecialchars_uni($linkscat[$viewcatid]["catdesc"]);
    $catdesc = $multilangcat['catdesc'];
    //$cattext    = htmlspecialchars_uni($linkscat[$viewcatid]["cattext"]);
    $cattext = $multilangcat['cattext'];
    // end multilang hack 


thats it...
as I said.. it seems to work.. and I will continue testing on my localhost as long as vb3.7 is still in beta...

What I'd be interested in... is if someone sees an obvious drawback...
Ok.. the cat editing is a pain.. but you do it only very seldomly.. (the extra query is only at catedit.. and only done by admin ==> me.. )

I forgot.. if the name or desc or long description do NOT start with a $ sign.. it works as designed for that cat.. so multilanguage is Not active for this cat..

I think its only a starting idea.. but surely needs to be overworked before usage..

Maybe there are better solutions.. but i didnt find any..
(more sophisticated would be to use the system vbull uses for user profile fields.. but that would require much more rewriting!!!) it basically does the same.. but creates the phrases when you enter the name.. and does the replacements in the background..

Felix

PS: this is just an idea i had while playing around.. it seems to work in my config.. but i would not use it in a production environment..

[chickadee]

Fantastic mod, just had a question:

What settings must I change if I want to create thumbnails of videos/images automatically?

Thanks so much Andrew, this mod is truly brilliant.

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by chickadee

Fantastic mod, just had a question:

What settings must I change if I want to create thumbnails of videos/images automatically?

Thanks so much Andrew, this mod is truly brilliant.

Currently it doesn't handle thumbnails of videos automatically, so you have to give the entry an associated image if you want something to appear.

For thumbnails of images, this is automatic - go to LDM/admin/settings/Controls on Images and Icons

Set link_imagesize to a non-zero value, and LDM will then automatically create thumbnails that size. You can use the other settings in this section to control whether the thumbs are cached, etc.

Do you know of a reliable tool for extracting the first frame/other frame from video files that works across servers? Does the imageimagic package do this?

[Joep11]

Hi Andrew,

How can I get the font size of the links larger? Tried some things but it did not work. See http://www.wereldwijzer.nl/local_links.php?catid=164

Still a great mod, thanks!

[AndrewD]

Originally Posted by Joep11

Hi Andrew,

How can I get the font size of the links larger? Tried some things but it did not work. See http://www.wereldwijzer.nl/local_links.php?catid=164

Still a great mod, thanks!

The links in the standard linkbit are styled with the legend style. You could either modify that style on the vb/admincp/styles or edit the links_linkbit template and apply another style.

[coolgus]

Andrew I'm facing a strange problem. It seems that many thumbnails from my entries are not showing. I can't find a pattern which causes this